Huawei unveiled the Mate 40 series today at an online event that was live-streamed. The new smartphones are Huawei’s latest flagships and they bring new features including an all-new powerful processor, improved cameras, and faster charging technology.
The Huawei Mate 40 series includes the Mate 40, the Mate 40 Pro, and the Mate 40 Pro+. There is also the Porsche Design Mate 40 RS which is covered in another post.
Mate 40 Series Design and Specs
The Mate 40 series ditches the notch for a punch-hole screen. The standard model has a smaller hole as it only has a single front-facing camera while the Pro models have a pill-shaped hole for two cameras.
The Mate 40 has a 6.5-inch Flex OLED panel with a 2376 x 1080 resolution, DCI-P3 HDR, a 90Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The screen also has a 68° curve, 2D face unlock, and an in-display fingerprint scanner.
The Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ both come with a 6.76-inch Flex OLED panel with a 2722 x 1344 resolution, DCI-P3 HDR, 90Hz refresh rate, and 240Hz touch sampling rate. Their screens are more curved (88°) than the standard variant but you still get physical volume control buttons on the side. Huawei has also kept the software volume buttons from the Mate 30 Pro so that users who are left-handed can easily adjust the volume. There is a fingerprint scanner under the screen of both phones too.
Wondering why Huawei didn’t go for a 120Hz refresh rate? It was revealed during the launch that they settled for 90Hz as a result of battery life.
Mate 40 series cameras
The Mate 40 series features a ring-like camera design, however, the configuration is different across models.
The Mate 40 Pro has a 50MP f/1.9 1/1.28” main camera with OIS. It comes along with a 20MP f/1.8 Cine Camera (ultrawide angle), and a 12MP f/3.4 telephoto camera with OIS and a 125mm periscope lens that brings 5x optical zoom.
The Mate 40 Pro+ has the same 50MP main camera and 20MP ultrawide Cine Camera. However, its 8MP f/4.4 periscope lens offers up to 10x optical zoom. There is also a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto camera with OIS that brings 3x zoom too. Huawei says the Mate 40 Pro+ has a 17x optical zoom range. The phone also has a ToF Camera for depth sensing.
For the front, the Mate 40 Pro models have a 13MP f/2.4 camera and a 3D depth-sensing camera that comes in handy for motion gestures and face unlock. The front cameras also have an ultrawide angle mode. The standard Mate 40 has a single 13MP wide-angle camera.
Kirin 9000 Processor
The Mate 40 series comes with a brand new processor called the Kirin 9000. The new HiSilicon processor is a 5nm chipset with a built-in 5G modem and Huawei claims it is the most powerful 5G processor in the world.
According to the Chinese tech giant, the Kirin 9000 has 15.3 billion transistors, 30% more than the Apple Bionic 14 processor has. The new chipset also boasts a faster 8-core CPU, faster GPU, faster NPU, and better power efficiency than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865+ processor. Below are the specs of the Kirin 9000 and the slightly-less powerful Kirin 9000E that powers the standard model:
Kirin 9000
- 5nm EUV
- Octa-core CPU in a 1+3+4 configuration – 1x Cortex-A77 clocked at 3.13GHz + 3x Cortex-A77 clocked at 2.54GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 clocked at 2.05GHz
- Triple-core NPU – 2 Big cores + 1 Tiny Core
- GPU- Mali-G78 24 core GPU
- ISP 6.0
- Balong 5000
- LPDDR5/4X
Kirin 9000E
- 5nm EUV
- Octa-core CPU in a 1+3+4 configuration – 1x Cortex-A77 clocked at 3.13GHz + 3x Cortex-A77 clocked at 2.54GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 clocked at 2.05GHz
- Dual-core NPU – 2 Big cores + 1 Tiny Core
- GPU- Mali-G78 22 core GPU
- ISP 6.0
- Balong 5000
- LPDDR5/4X
The Mate 40 has a 4200mAh battery with support for 40W wired charging while the Mate 40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro+ have a 4400mAh battery with support for 66W wired SuperCharge and 50W wireless SuperCharge. Surprisingly, the Mate 40 doesn’t have support for wireless charging even though its predecessor, the Mate 30, has support for 27W Wireless SuperCharge.
Other features of the phones are NFC, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, stereo speakers, dual SIM support, audio jack, dual-frequency GPS, and NavIC support.
Price and Availability
The Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro will be available in five colors – Black, White, Mystic Silver, Vegan Green, and Vegan Yellow. The Mate 40 Pro+ will be available in Ceramic White and Ceramic Black.
The Mate 40 will sell for €899 and will have 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage while the Mate 40 Pro will sell for €1199 and will have 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The Mate 40 Pro+ will sell for €1399 and will have 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
